Nicole Kidman Shares ‘Harrowing’ Moment She Found Out Her Mother Had Died at Venice Film Festival | Nicole Kidman | Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment, Photos and Videos

Nicole Kidman is opening up about the “harrowing” way she learned about her mother’s death.

The Oscar winner lost her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, at the age of 84 in September 2024. She had just won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for Babygirl when she learned her mom had passed away.

“This seems to be such a common theme through my life,” Nicole explained to the audience at the Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center on Saturday (April 18) as part of HISTORYTalks 2026 (via The Hollywood Reporter). “I was about to go on stage, and I found out my mother had died. I went right back to the room in Venice, got into bed and was completely devastated.”

The Moulin Rouge star says she was unsure of how to move forward as her mother “was so much a part of [her] existence, so the idea of being there at that particular moment was harrowing.”

She continued, “I remember getting into a boat in the canal, and literally at night trying to find my way to the airport, and then turning around and going, I can’t even do this. And then went back into the bed, and I was alone. My husband wasn’t there. My children weren’t there. I’d gone to win an award. What should have been a beautiful thing, ended up with that. But there is the contrast of life, and that’s what I always say to people. I say that’s when I know I’m resilient. That’s when I know I can survive pretty much anything.”

Nicole also reflected on her aspirations of becoming a death doula, something she publicly revealed just recently.

“I did this talk recently where I said I’m expanding into learning to be a death doula, which seemed to have people confused or intrigued,” she said during the HISTORYTalks event where she was a live speaker. She talks more about the decision amid her personal loss here.

Nicole was also at CinemaCon earlier this week with Sandra Bullock to promote Practical Magic 2, releasing later this year.